The ten-year-old Athlone Park Shopping Centre in Umbogintwini is being upgraded and modernised with a 200 percent increase in current lettable space, almost tripling the current 11 line shops to 32 and enlargement of the existing anchor tenant, Pick’n Pay Family Store into a “one-stop shop”.
The R25 million expansion, set for completion early next year, also involves the creation of a two-level, 150-vehicle basement parking area with a lift to the main mall. The centre is to be upgraded to a total area of 7 014 sm and lettable area from a current 2 450 sm to 5 946 sm.
Announcing the expansion this week, owner David Rowles, said it was intended to mature the centre into a fully comprehensive community facility catering for month-end shoppers while retaining its current convenience usage.
The centre tenant mix has been aimed to provide convenient household shopping to service the communities in close proximity. The centre is to be finished in upmarket finishes with chandeliers, porcelain tiles, bulkheads and strategic lighting to give the centre the upmarket, homely ambience of a neighbourhood shopping centre.
The announcement comes after a three-year wait by Rowles for local authority building permission to expand the centre.
Athlone Park Shopping Centre, which has blossomed into regional importance since the closure of the Hyperama in Prospecton, caters for a large and high growth catchment area that includes Athlone Park, Isipingo, Lotus Park, Prospecton, KwaMakuthu and Amanzimtoti.
Pick ’n Pay Family Store owner Craig Dunnington, says the ease of N2 freeway access to the centre has also attracted substantial commuter traffic from the Upper south coast into Durban. His store is being increased in size from a current 1 600 sm to 2 512sm and will include a full range of goods including clothing.
Rowles says the balance of the increased space will be made up of 32 line shops, 3 434 sm, and a mall area of 1 047 sm. The tenant mix will include current tenants of a bottle store, pharmacy, coffee shops and new tenants such as banks, ATM’s, fashion stores, fast food outlets, hair salon, post office and other tenants that make up a convenient neighbourhood shopping centre. The centre is already 80% let and we anticipate the upgrading will increase the current customer count of 64 000 monthly shoppers by 20 percent to approximately 77 500 per month.
Rowles says the centre is designed to give maximum visibility and foot traffic to all the tenants eliminating so-called dead zones. Access is from two separate points, the main entrance in the front of the centre and the elevator from the underground parking area to the mall area.